'One of Them Days' Is A Laugh Riot To Remember
Studio comedies just don't hit the same anymore. Gone is the genre's 90s heyday, with vibrant characters and natural, chaotic magic that stuck with viewers years after release. The rare, recent successful R-rated releases took on unique premises rooted in the modern day but faded away in the 2020s. It's from this classic 90s era that producer Issa Rae drew inspiration for the new release One of Them Days, and struck gold; a comedy set in LA following two roommates struggling to make their rent deadline and going to extravagant lengths to secure the money. Like Friday (1995), the film is a comical, loving portrait of a South Central LA neighborhood through the perspective of two twenty-somethings and their day-long hustle, but freshened up with a contemporary female lens.
Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are a Type-A Type-B duo bonded since childhood and living in an apartment complex colloquially dubbed "The Jungle." Dreux works at a local fast-food chain with aspirations of becoming a franchise manager, and Alyssa is an artist with a deadbeat, moocher boyfriend Keshawn. When Alyssa gives their rent money to Keshawn and he spends it on knockoff Gucci tees he swears will turn a profit ("Cucci?!" Alyssa exasperates at the design), the women set off on an Odyssean hunt to recoup the cash in any way they can.
Syreeta Singleton's screenplay is a chain-link of events that are narratively absurd but grounded in real motivations. Some of the ways Dreux and Alyssa try to get money include blood bank donations and reselling a pair of Air Jordans hanging from a telephone line, both of which end in disaster (the blood bank scene is my personal favorite from the entire film). It's the threat of eviction that propels the plot and builds tension releasing moments of laughter as Palmer and SZA's chemistry and humor prevent the film from sliding into melodrama. Palmer is a seasoned actor and her natural charisma is no surprise, but SZA in her debut is one to watch. The two women are so familiar and real that it takes little time to feel invested in their struggle and attached to their personalities.Not to be outdone by the two leading ladies, however, are a bustling cast of side characters: blood bank nurse Ruby (Janelle James), homeless man Lucky (Katt Williams), LA transplant Bethany (Maude Apatow), bully and sidepiece to Keshawn Berniece (Aziza Scott), Dreux's crush Maniac (Patrick Cage) and many more. Each is comedically pitch-perfect, but also written as fully-fledged characters with their lives beyond their place in Dreux's and Alyssa's. Syreeta Singleton's screenplay elevates each character beyond their comedic archetype to recognizable individuals drawn from life, and alongside the main characters, they ground the film through its absurdism.
It's on Palmer's shoulders that much of the film lies, however, particularly in an interesting look into professionalism culture through Dreux's aspiration to be a franchise manager. Without spoiling the result, a job interview she attends showcases instances of code-switching in the workplace – as she bonds with her Black interviewer – and culminates in a jarring clash between Dreux's professional and personal worlds that is both hilarious and horrifying (an apt thesis for the film). It's a larger-than-life example of how the corporate world yearns for a manicured version of real-world experience but balks at the messiness of reality. Never mistake this for a critique though, the film displays the events plainly as a facet of Dreux's life, and its lack of larger messaging is rather refreshing. It doesn't aim higher than its premise; the audience is here for a good time, and the creators behind and on the screen deliver just that.
One of Them Days succeeds as a classic studio buddy-comedy film that feels familiar in the best ways and new in all the necessary ones. A nuanced depiction of female friendships and love for community bring heart to a truly ridiculous film that has laughs to spare.
